Former Coach on Sekera – “One of my favorite players ever”

In 21 years of coaching hockey at the professional and major junior level, Manchester Monarchs coach Mike Stothers has seen hundreds upon hundreds of players take the ice for his various squads. From Mark Recchi and Bobby Ryan to Gino Odjick and PJ Stock, Stothers has worked with a wide variety of player-types.

On Wednesday, the LA Kings acquired defenseman Andrej Sekera, one of Stothers’ former players. Having not coached him since the 2005-06 season, it would have been easy for Stothers’ memory of Sekera to become foggy. Instead, he had rather high praise for his former blueliner when we spoke one-on-one with him. Here is what he shared…

On how he remembers Sekera:

“One of my favorite players ever! Just a great skater, [and a] great puck moving defenseman. I think he’s going to be a big, big asset to the Kings. I’m just happy [that] he’s in the organization.”

On Kings VP Mike Futa referring to Sekera as a gym rat:

“You know what? He spent a lot of time in the dressing room – I don’t know if it was boredom. I mean, he didn’t go to school when he was in junior, so he had a lot of extra time. But, he used it to his advantage – he didn’t waste a moment. Again, his skating ability has just what’s been able to set him apart from others.”

On how Sekera was as a leader:

“He is in a quiet way – just the way he prepares himself. He’s probably not going to be a guy that’s going to go in there and be a talker or a rah-rah guy. Just the way he prepares himself, like we talked about, doing the extra [work] in the weight room and stuff. I think it’s a great opportunity. I know he’s going to be excited – he wants a chance to win and get into a quality organization, and he certainly has done so.”

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